CHECK LIST OF NORTH AMERICAN BIRDS. 



47 



193. Passer montanus (L.). b — . c — . r — . [Fmp. and Nut.] 



European Tree Sparrow. 



194. Carpodacus purpureus (Gin.) Gr. b 305. c 139. r ics. 



Purple Finch. 



195. Carpodacus cassini Bil. b 307. c i40. r ico. 



Cassin^s Purple Finch, 



198. Carpodacus frontalis (Say) Gr. B 308. c 141. R no. 



Crimson-fronted Fincli ; House Finch ; Burion. 



extent as tlie generic nnme, under the form Pi/njita: though having originally no refer- 

 ence to the speeies wiiatever, it is a very apt designation of a bird wliieli nests so habit- 

 ually about buildings. — 4. The word Frini/illa, one of a large group, giving name to the 

 Finch family, Frini/illidic, and to the English adjictivo /riiii/illine, is the origin of the 

 word /inch itself ; though it is only for about a century that it has had any thing to do 

 with the present species. Fniiiiilln is the Latin nnme of the same bird that the Greeks 

 called (TiriCa or <riri(ri, spiza, the /■'. ealihs L., English ChafHnch. FriiniilUi or frimjuilla has 

 been derived by some from fiamjo, I break, as the bird does seeds (just as we have in 

 Gr. OAiiir/i or OpauirU). But its etymology appears when we regard the non-nasalized 

 iovm fnijilla, inim fii<nttio or fn'i/iilfio (= frinijntin or fiiinjullio, formed like siiiguldo, I 

 hiccup), I twitter, chirp, stammer; these words being themselves lengthened from 

 J'riijulo, I croak, as a crow, and this from /nV/o, I squeak, squeal. (Cf. Gr. tppuyu, and the 

 actual (ppvylKos, the name of a bird in Aristophanes, and source of the modern genus 

 Freijihis, a jackdaw. The idea seems to be some sliort sharp sound, as the hissing, 

 sizzling of something cooking, — fi'Kjn or (ppvyai, I (iiwV.) Friii^iilhi reappears in several 

 Italian forms, from two of which two series of words branch off; from such sisfrimjuiUo, 

 fn'nco, are derived, with loss of the r. Germ, fincf, put, and Eng. Jiiirh; while from such 

 as f'riiisoni: we pass through (jrlnaott, i/iiinson, pliison, or later Er. pinqnn to Eng. sp'wk, a 

 name of /•'. cakhn. — 5. An entirely different set of words gives the pedigree of modern 

 Eng. sparmr, back from which we pass to spanuwe, or sparowe, or spanrr, Gothic spanni 

 or spdi-ra, A. S sjicanvu ; related forms being s/iiiir, spar, sper, spmr, spun; spar/, spat::, spenj, 

 sprrk; sperllmjk; round again to the present Germ, fpcrliiig or (lautffpcrlini^, houfesparrow, passer 

 (loimsllciis. — 0. Eng. sparrow also curiously leads us back again to Latin, through such 

 a form as spnrra, Latinized as sparriiis ; so, also, JTako sparveriiis, !. q. friuqiUarius, 

 vTTi^ias, Vr. espcrvler or c'/icrricr, anijlice sparrow-hawk. — 7. There is said to be an old 

 Flemish name iiioiische for this bird, which may not improbably connect with O. Fr. 

 mouvit, moissnn. — 8. The present I'r. is molncau, or moinean fravr, or moinean de rllle. — 

 9. Several languages have applied cant names to this sturdy vulgarian ; Span, ijorrion, 

 thief, rogue, scamp; Fr. ijamin; American tramp, hoodlum. — 10. An onomatopreia as 

 interesting as FriivjiUa itself has arisen from the sharp, abrupt, dissyllabic note. This is 

 represented by the syllables ijcllop (cf. Gr. iK\6ir-oi), i/'llup, or plu/lhip, easily becoming 

 Philip. Early in the sixteenth century appear the ' Boke of I'hyllup Sparrowe " and the 

 "I'raise of Philip Sparrow "; and this name is Shakspearian. 

 Introduced, but now thoroughly naturalized everywhere. 



193. P. m5n-ta'-nus. Lat. mo»/n))».<!, of mountains. 



Not in the orig. ed. ; since introduced from Europe, and naturalized in some places. 



194. Car-p6'-d5-cQs pQr-pQr'-C-iSs. Gr. Kapw6i, a fruit, and Saxoi, from hiKvic, I bite ; 2d aorist 



HZaKov, or ii.Kov. — Lat. purpureus, purple; Gr. irop<pipeos, English porphyry, &c. ; cf. 

 irvp(t>6pos {irvp, (pfpai) the fire-bearer, an epithet of Trometheus. — The quantity of the 

 penult is in question ; we usually hear carjmda'-cus in this country; but carpS'nlacus ia 

 preferable, 

 C. cas'-sln-l. To John Cassin. 



195, 

 196 





C. fron-ta'-lls. liiii.frotitaliSf relating to tlie forehead ; //ons, forehead, front. 





